Eating our way through New York City.

I'm not gonna lie. We ate ALL DAY LONG! We did other stuff too... in between eating and eating and eating. There are just too many amazing places and only so many days... I'm just sayin'.

It started with delicious homemade cereal with peaches, nuts and just a touch of agave nectar. Our first break from food was the TKTS booth at South Street Seaport. We waited for about 40min. (far less time than Times Square)only to find that the tickets to Phantom were $90 each WITH the discount. Um. NO! While we were waiting, this girl had given us a flyer about someone doing performance art down the street.

His name is Brian Lobel and it's called "Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There" His idea is to spend an entire work week dancing. "From 9am-5pm for 5 days straight Brian will dance non-stop in his bedroom,inviting any and all passerby to join him, to dance with him, to watch a musical film of their choice or simply to stand and watch. [It] links Depression-era dance marathons, where contestants danced until they dropped in pursuit of fame and fortune." We danced with Marylin to "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and Whoopie Goldberg "I Will Follow Him" and "Think" from the Blues Brothers. It was great fun! We tried to get Jill to join us. I asked her afterwards... How often do you get to be a part of performance art? To which she replied, "My life is performance art"




The first two times I came to NY, I didn't walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I made it a goal this time, and Jill said we could IF we went to the best pizza place EVER! hmmmm. OK.




It's called Grimaldi's Pizzaria. UNBELIEVABLE! It's under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn Heights. And yes, we made friends with the people sitting by us. It couldn't be helped. We had 2 of the 8 seats at the table. Community tables are great, but over on the West Coast we like our space. So, the cutie to my right was showing his friend from Oklahoma around the city. He told me that I need to work on the not being nice thing. "Nice will get you killed here." And the lady to my left is from England and hoping to move back to NYC. And the pizza is to die for!!







The San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy hosted our next epicurean delights (and a pair of Dolce and Faux-bbana sunglasses). Sfogliatella, Cannoli and Spicy Shrimp - oh my!

Jill's dad has been going to Vincent's since he was young. He grew up in NY and his mom is from Naples. I think he could be considered an expert on all things Italian. I have in on good authority that he also spends $200 at Ferrara's pastries, so we went there first. *sigh* I told Jill that I needed a moment alone with my cannoli. Then we walked by Vincent's. We definately were NOT HUNGRY, so Jill says "Let's just share". Apparently sharing to Jill means that she'll have one shrimp and I will have to struggle through eating the other nine and the two pieces of fried bread smothered in this most amazing spicy tomato sauce.

I told the busser that I would definately need lots of water. I don't think he spoke English. When I thought flames would come shooting out of my mouth right before my head exploded, I finally walked up to the little Italian and asked him to bring me an entire pitcher of water. He finished setting the table he was working on and then came and refilled my water. 2 seconds later, when my glass was again empty, the busser was nowhere to be found. What do you think happened when our waiter brought the dessert tray? Did we turn him away before he could get out the word tiramisu? NO! I was in pain, yet the words "I'll take the Fruitti Di Bosco" rolled so easily off my tongue. Did I tell you we were meeting Jill's cousin for Greek food at 6pm? well, it was 4:30 when we finished 'sharing' our 'snack' at Vincent's.



On our next break from food, we accidently got on an express train and went from 50th to 125th. We wanted to stop at 72nd and then 96th. oops. I had a tip from some native NYers (also Bela Fleck's parents) to check out Jacques Torres Chocolates. It's on Amsterdam near 72nd. We figured maybe we'd go there after dinner since it was getting to be time to meet Roxanne and Mario for Greek food.When Jill told me the name of the restaurant I said, 'that doesn't sound Greek' We got to the address she sent us to and this is what we found...


Definately not Greek, but definately YUMMY! I ordered arroz con pollo and Jill got chicken casserole. There were also these fried sweet plantains. Guess what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow? Roxanne is a character and I could listen to her tell stories for days. She teaches Italian and Spanish at a middle school and she sasses her students right back. My favorite things she said need the story, but in the interest of not making this blog the longest in history, I'll just give you the punchlines -- "every day is Ash Wednesday" and "There you go, God doesn't love ugly"




After the amazing "Spanish Carribean, not Jamaican Carribean" Carribean food, We found our way to Jacques Torres, where - at 5 minutes to closing they still had hot chocolate chip cookies. Which can only be described as alternating layers of crunchy and chocolatey goodness. And since they were hot, we had to eat them immediately. I am saving my chocolate treats, four bite size tidbits, for later. I'm looking forward to 'the love bug'. It's white chocolate filled with key lime and an adorable picture of a ladybug on top. Jill took a bite of hers and insists that it is delicious.


One hour of people watching in Times Square, a green striped Dolce and Faux-bbana bag, and a few raindrops later we found our way to our apartment and finished off the pizza, the rest of the cookie, and some trail mix. Speaking of which, I think I need to eat the rest of my pastry from Vincent's...